FORT MOHAVE A physician who cared for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords immediately after an assassination attempt has joined Valley View Medical Center as a general surgeon.

Dr. Marcie Leeds was the chief resident on call at University Medical Center in Tucson when Giffords and 18 others were shot in January 2011, gravely injuring Giffords and killing six.

Were fortunate to have someone with Dr. Leeds clinical skills and background not just as a member of the Valley View medical staff, but available to serve patients from the entire Tri-State area, said Valley View interim CEO Fred Capozello.

Leeds completed her residencies at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson and Maricopa Integrated Health Services in Phoenix. She received her M.D. from Ross University School of Medicine in New Jersey.

For the care she provided both Giffords and her husband, astronaut and U.S. Navy Capt. Mark Kelly, Leeds received a VIP invitation to attend Kellys launch aboard the final mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavor several months later.

In surgical residency, when we are trained in trauma, we are taught a recipe of sorts, a structured way of examining every patient, every time, so that no injuries are missed and details are not overlooked, she wrote in a California Lutheran University alumni publication after the shooting. Although I was stunned by the sudden tragedy I was now part of, the training kicked in.

Leeds general surgery practice will include a wide range of procedures, from hernias and gallbladders to lumpectomies and mastectomies. Her practice is Valley View General Surgery, located in The Medical Offices at Valley View, 5300 Highway 95 in Fort Mohave. Her office phone is 928-768-2330.

Her pre-med work was done at California Lutheran University, where she graduated cum laude with a BS in biology, and Cal-State Northridge, where she graduated with a masters degree in biology and genetics. Capozello said Leeds is an example of someone who made an educational and career change because of an influential teacher. A high school biology teacher made an impression on her, and she went into the sciences.

The career change she made was dramatic, both literally and figuratively. Through high school, Leeds had been a television and film actress. She had many roles, but her best known role was in 1988 as 11-year old Hillary Whitney playing the young version of Barbara Hersheys character in the Academy Award-winning film, Beaches. To put patients at ease, her office and waiting area have some of her film and TV promotional posters.

The New York native grew up in Simi Valley, in suburban Los Angeles.

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Giffords doc hired as surgeon at Valley View